OnePlus HeyMelody App Updates OnePlus, OPPO Earbuds On Any Phone

US Customs and Border protection may have obstinately labeled them as counterfeit Apple AirPods but OnePlus' wireless earbuds are undoubtedly attractive for their price. And while it does have the OnePlus brand, it can work with any other smartphone just like any other Bluetooth earbuds. There is, however, one caveat and at least one important functionality is sadly limited only to OnePlus phones. Fortunately, that's no longer the case with a new app that can update not just OnePlus Buds but even some of OPPO's.

The OnePlus Buds and more affordable OnePlus Buds Z are able to function without any problem with any smartphone brand. That's thanks to the use of industry standards like Bluetooth. That, however, only gives you basic functionality, and updating the earbuds themselves isn't exactly standard.

OnePlus has its own OnePlus Buds app that gives you more control over the buds, including the important operation of updating the buds' firmware. This is very critical for such a young product from a company that tends to push out updates to improve the listening experience. Unfortunately, that OnePlus Buds app is exclusive to OnePlus phones.

Rather than open up the app to more Android phones, OnePlus took the rather odd route of launching a completely separate app just for that purpose. With the equally oddly-named HeyMelody app, any Android phone can be used to update the TWS earbuds firmware. Not only that, you can even use it to view the buds' and the charging case's battery levels, presuming your phone's manufacturer doesn't have that functionality.

The compatibility requirement for the HeyMelody app is very low, just Android 6.0 Marshmallow or higher, which covers pretty much all Android devices in the market now. And as if to dispel any doubts left about OnePlus' familial relationship with OPPO, the HeyMelody app supports not just OnePlus' TWS buds but also the OPPO Enco X and OPPO Enco W51.